Every so often, I make jokes about how Massachusetts is the Silo State, and Rhode Island is the Pilot Project State. This is overstating the truth, but there’s no doubt that the nonprofit/philanthropic cultures of the two states are quite different, and there’s plenty to be learned outside of my home base.

I spent a few minutes giving the group a briefing about the ongoing work of developing web-based tools that might assist them in various aspects of their collaborative work, but the most important task for me at that meeting was listening, and doing my best to understand the state of nonprofit collaboration in Providence. Copies were distributed of an excellent slide deck by Jane Arsenault of FIO Partners; it outlined a range of options in strategic partnerships from informal coordination to formal mergers. There was much talk around the table of a “Collaborate, Cooperate, Innovate” meeting the previous January, and of a “Building for Sustainable Communities” conference earlier this month.

It seems that, having done considerable homework, this group now has questions on their minds about the practicalities of finding, raising money for, and using facilities that they can share.

My current thought experiment is to envision Jackie at this meeting in Providence, sitting at the table with the nonprofit and philanthropic professionals. What would they want to ask her? What are the best practices that she would want to share? Can we work with Jackie capture this sort of content on video? How many other groups – in New England, or the United States – are sitting around tables asking questions about sharing arrangements? I hope that we can find ways for the Nonprofit Management Resources project to serve them.